Al Pike: Wetmore true to his roots

Thursday

Mar 28, 2013 at 3:15 AM

From pushing a crate around Dover Arena as a wide-eyed 3-year-old while learning to skate to pushing a puck around Verizon Wireless Arena this weekend as a collegian in pursuit of a national championship, Riley Wetmore has come a long way.

“The first time I stepped on the ice I couldn’t skate,” he recalled.

Turns out he was wearing a pair of used skates and one of them was broken. Once that situation was rectified it’s been a rewarding climb ever since.

The Dover native is a senior captain on the fifth-ranked UMass-Lowell men’s hockey team, which is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s Northeast Regional being hosted by the University of New Hampshire.

The River Hawks will take on Wisconsin in Manchester on Friday (4:30 p.m.), not far from where he cut his hockey teeth. UNH meets Denver in Friday’s second game.

Wetmore began playing organized hockey in Dover at the age of 5 for coach John Tiano and scored his first goal the day before one of his older brothers broke through.

“I used to brag about that,” he said. “We were always competitive.”

Although Riley’s mom kept that puck, he’s after a much bigger souvenir now. One of the hottest teams in the country, UMass-Lowell is a legitimate contender for the national championship.

The defensive-minded River Hawks won the Hockey East regular-season crown and last weekend captured the program’s first league tournament title with a 1-0 win over Boston University.

“We’re sticking to the process,” Wetmore said. “We roll four lines. We blocked 21 shots in the championship game so we must be doing something right. We’re sacrificing and playing for each other.”

The victory was part of a remarkable turnaround for UMass-Lowell, which had high hopes after reaching the national quarterfinals last year but got off to a slow start this season, winning only four of its first 12 games.

UML received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last year as opposed to being an automatic qualifier this time around.

After blowing a 3-0 lead against Miami in the first round last year, the River Hawks ended up winning in overtime. However, they lost to Union in the regional final.

“Everyone’s fighting for their life,” Wetmore said. “I think last year we lost focus because we were just happy to get there and happy to win that first game. I feel like we’ve really earned our spot this year.”

After going 4-7-1 out of the gate, the River Hawks are 22-3-1 in their last 26 games. They’ve won 12 of their last 13 and appear to be peaking at the right time.

Wetmore has become a leader on a team with only two seniors.

“We’ve got a good group of guys,” he said. “We’ve got good leadership in the locker room. We just came together as a team. Everyone has bought into our systems and we’ve become closer. I try to hold myself accountable as well as everyone else.”

If UMass-Lowell and UNH both advance, they would meet in the regional final Saturday night with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line.

“At this point it doesn’t matter,” Wetmore said. “Right now we’re just looking at that first game.”

When Riley was a youngster his dad took him to UNH hockey games. However, when his parents divorced when he was in second grade, Riley moved to Vermont to live with his mom.

He had a growth spurt after his freshman year in high school. His hockey prowess also started to grow.

“Playing with older kids definitely helped,” Wetmore said. “Once I started doing that I got better and I developed.”

He played three years of junior hockey for Green Mountain of the EJHL when he was in high school, then followed a couple of teammates from that club to UMass-Lowell where he has become a member of the exclusive century club.

It took only one visit for Wetmore to be sold on the school that would be his home for the next four years.

“I came down and fell in love with it,” he said. “I’m so happy with the program. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Wetmore has 110 points in 149 career games on 49 goals and 61 assists, including 15 goals and 11 assists this season. He’s tied for the team lead in goals and ranks fourth in points.

His hat trick in an 8-2 win over Massachusetts early in the season while the River Hawks were struggling helped turn their fortunes around.

“We started believing in each other and trusting the process,” Wetmore said. “Before that we weren’t scoring a lot of goals. We didn’t know where we were going as a team. That built our confidence.”

The development of freshman goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was named MVP of the Hockey East playoffs, hasn’t hurt.

Despite growing up in Vermont and going to college in Massachusetts, Wetmore hasn’t forgotten his roots. He visits the Seacoast as much as possible and plays golf at Dover’s Cochecho Country Club with his dad, Rick Wetmore, who lives and works in Portsmouth.

He also remains close with the Tiano family, including Mike Tiano, who played hockey at Dover High School.

“I love it up there,” Wetmore said. “I’m actually thinking about living up in Portsmouth this summer. It depends on how hockey goes. It will be nice to be back up there.”

It will be even nicer if he comes back a national champion.

Al Pike is a staff sports writer for Foster’s Daily Democrat. He can be reached at 742-4455, ext. 5514, or at apike@fosters.com.